Henry Smeathman (1742–1786) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
naturalist, best known for his work in
entomology
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arac ...
and colonial settlement in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
.
In 1771 the Quaker physician
John Fothergill (physician), John Fothergill, along with two other members of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, Sir
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...
and
Marmaduke Tunstall
Marmaduke Tunstall (1743 – 11 October 1790) was an English ornithologist and collector. He was the author of ''Ornithologica Britannica'' (1771), probably the first British work to use binomial nomenclature.
Tunstall was born at Burton Cons ...
, sponsored Smeathman to spend four years in and around the
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
peninsula studying its
natural history, specifically its insects.
Life
Sierra Leone
Smeathman made his voyage to Africa aboard a trade ship called the ''Fly'', which was transporting barrels of
rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phi ...
to the
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...
n coast. The Fly arrived at Sierra Leone on December 12, 1771. Smeathman was given some key contacts in West African coast including Afro-European slave trading families, presumably from Drury, Fothergill or Banks.
With these contacts, Smeathman was first granted permission to stay in the
Banana Islands, where he settled on December 17, 1771, and stayed for more than three years. Upon arrival, Smeathman presented himself to
King James Cleveland, an Afro-European slave trader who helped him settle and explore by taking him in through negotiating terms with other members of the local ruling elite (referred to as "kings" or "chiefs" by the traders in the region). In exchange for gifts, Smeathman was given permission to settle on the islands, and he was also given help in his research. He relied on the locals to assist him in constructing a house and he bartered with them in order to obtain local resources. This dependence came about due to the lack of European settlement in his location of residence. Shortly after his arrival, Smeathman contracted a case of what he described as
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...
. Though he claimed that he had cured himself with Dr. Fothergill's advice and his medical books that he had brought along, he suffered from symptoms of the disease until his death from a fever, which was fifteen years after initial exposure.
Although his voyage was sponsored in large part by anti-slavery
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
like
John Fothergill (physician), John Fothergill, Smeathman relied on individuals involved in slave-trading networks, such as British slave-trader
Miles Barber, for support and assistance.
He and
Andreas Berlin, his botanist assistant, also frequently socialized and played golf with slave-trading merchants and agents.
In fact, Smeathman seems to have regarded slave traders as 'gentlemen' and tried to refashion himself as one of them.
Smeathman travelled and gathered specimens throughout the
Sherbro area, the
Kamaranka River, and the
Sierra Leone River
The Sierra Leone River is a river estuary on the Atlantic Ocean in Western Sierra Leone. It is formed by the Bankasoka River and Rokel River and is between 4 and 10 miles wide (6–16 km) and 25 miles (40 km) long. It holds the major po ...
estuary. In addition, he visited
Bunce Island
Bunce Island (also spelled "Bence," "Bense," or "Bance" at different periods) is an island in the Sierra Leone River. It is situated in Freetown Harbour, the estuary of the Rokel River and Port Loko Creek, about upriver from Sierra Leone's cap ...
to ship out his specimens. Smeathman relied on assistance from indigenous people in his collections and research, particularly with the examination of termite mounds, but was often reluctant to accept their entomological knowledge.
He initially encountered problems with preserving his specimens during oceanic transport, but discovered that placing boxes of specimens atop opened rum barrels effectively prevented their destruction.
Marriages
On July 21, 1772, Smeathman married his first wife, an African woman who was the daughter of "the King of a Country up the River Sherbro," and at one point may have had three wives simultaneously. Marriage with local women, especially daughters of influential persons, was one of the most significant chances for strangers to settle down.
He wrote frankly about his African wives and seemed to view them as a necessary commodity in comparison to his books. Though he wrote about spending very little amounts of money on his wives, he also denounced the slave traders for having too many wives and for treating their wives poorly.
According to
John C. Lettsome, Smeathman married first the daughter of
King Tom and later the daughter of King
James Cleveland
James Edward Cleveland (December 5, 1931 – February 9, 1991) was an American gospel singer, musician, and composer. Known as the King of Gospel, Cleveland was a driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound by incorporating trad ...
; however on both these occasions his spouse died.
Departure from Africa
Smeathman departed Sierra Leone in 1775 via a
slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast i ...
. However, he was delayed in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean S ...
by illness and the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
while en route to England. Hence, Smeathman supplemented this work with a further four years spent in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean S ...
. Smeathmen also sold a number of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean which he purchased in Sierra Leone.
After he returned to England, Smeathman drew up a proposal for the resettlement of the "Black Poor" community in Sierra Leone, which he presented to the
Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor and the
British government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
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, date_es ...
. The plan resulted in the founding of the
Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate
The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Cro ...
in 1787.
Andreas Berlin, one of the
apostles of Linnaeus, was among Smeathman's associates.
Texts
* Smeathman, H. (1781) ''Some Account of the Termites, which are Found in Hot Climates''. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 71: 139–192,
* Smeathman, H. (1785?) ''Elocution and Polite Literature''
* Smeathman, H. (1786) ''Plan of a Settlement to be Made near Sierra Leone, on the Grain Coast of Africa''
References
Bibliography
*
*Coleman, Deirdre (2018). ''Henry Smeathman, the Flycatcher: Natural History, Slavery, and Empire in the late Eighteenth Century''. Liverpool University Press. .
External links
*
Smeathman's profilein
Bionomia, showing where the biological samples he collected are held, and the science they have enabled
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeathman, Henry
English entomologists
1786 deaths
1742 births
18th-century English writers
18th-century English male writers
History of Sierra Leone
British slave traders